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Justin R. Alvarez, 27, was originally charged with burglary and theft, along with having a small amount of drugs, after a Fair Lawn detective who’d been keeping an eye on him said he spotted Alvarez steal a restaurant owner’s wallet on Saturday.
The drugs were turned up in a search by officers at the county lockup in Hackensack a short time later, the sheriff’s office told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.
Alvarez, who lives on Linden Court, was being held on $35,000 combined bail pending a Municipal Court hearing tomorrow.
According to Fair Lawn Police Sgt. Richard Schultz, Detective Timothy O’Shaughnessy “observed a suspicious male (Alvarez) riding a bicycle near the CVS Pharmacy on River [Road] and Rivera’s Grill House on Maple [Avenue].
“With the owner of the Rivera’s Grill House performing working on his truck, Alvarez was seen smoking a cigarette while walking [a]round looking nervous.
“After the owner of the truck had walked away and entered the Grill House, Alvarez approached the truck, reached through an open window and took the owner’s wallet[,] which had been mistakenly left behind.”
O’Shaughnessy called headquarters, Schultz said.
“With the assistance of Officers Paul Donohue, Thomas Check, and Sgt. Joseph Dawicki, [O’Shaughnessy] approached Alvarez and took him into custody without incident,” the sergeant said.
“At the time of his arrest, Alvarez was found to be in possession of the stolen wallet and one (1) small bag of CDS,” Schultz said in a news release. “Alvarez was then taken to police headquarters where he was formally charged with [b]urglary to a car, [t]heft and [p]ossession of CDS.”
He also said that corrections officers found another 30 bags of heroin in a “discrete [discreet] location on Alvarez.”
MUGSHOT: Courtesy Bergen County Sheriff’s Office
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